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Actively for the amendment of cost accounting rules of researcher remuneration in H2020
Actively for the amendment of cost accounting rules of researcher remuneration in H2020
22 June 2016
Modified: 14 December 2017
Reading time: 5 minute(s)
The proper cost accounting of researcher wages for projects financed under the Horizon 2020 programme is a major challenge for Hungarian institutions, since regulations regarding the means used to top up salaries became more stringent than in the previous framework programmes.

Experts of the NRDI Office initiated several discussions and consultations involving Hungarian institutions of higher-education and research for a deep insight into the remuneration practices of the concerned organizations, in order to have proper arguments and solution proposals when negotiating with the European Commission on the cost accounting rules.

Researchers from the Member States of the so-called EU13, which generally win less funding, are hit the hardest by the modified regulation. According to the current regulations of the Horizon 2020 programme, researchers may primarily have their base salary from the budget of an awarded project while options to be offered further personal allowance for their contribution in an awarded H2020 project is rather limited. That causes a serious stress factor in remuneration since researchers of the Western European countries have significantly higher base salaries than their CEE counterparts working as civil servants, and any extra researching performance in the latter countries, just like in Hungary, is rewarded from project sources as a general practice. Current rules allow fringe benefits no more than EUR 8000 per annum for the duration of a project, including taxes which stand for the half of the gross amount. Paying a maximum of EUR 333 per month on top of the base cannot offset the general discrepancy of researcher wages on European level. The H2020 programme could contribute to keeping excellent local researchers within the EU13, by allowing to reimburse base salaries higher than the governmental ones, for the duration of the project.

It is a key priority for the NRDI Office to provide practical help in answering applicants’ questions regarding H2020, contributing thereby to the success of Hungarian institutions. In light of that, the NRDI Office – along with the financing institutions of numerous EU13 countries – joined a Polish-Slovenian initiative the representatives of which, including experts of the NRDI Office, carried on negotiations in Brussels with the European Commission and other Member States to solve the above problem, and achieve more favourable cost accounting conditions for the researchers of the region across all fields of the H2020 programme, in a system similar to the unit-cost methodology used by the Marie Curie fellowships. Negotiations revealed that, while there is a little chance to amend the legal frameworks of the H2020 due to the lengthy modification procedure and the lack of political consensus in the EU, the Commission is open to find a solution, by way of bilateral discussions, to the cost accounting problems of researcher wages faced by the EU13 states.

In order to set the scene for the negotiations with the Commission and to elaborate joint proposals, the NRDI Office initiated broad consultation with the involvement of stakeholders from Hungary, including the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, the Ministry of Human Capacity, academic institutions and other research organizations in September 2015. Since November 2015, the NRDI Office has been organizing consultations on a monthly basis in H2020-related financial and legal matters specifically for experts dealing with funding application management at universities and research institutes. The event provided a forum for showcasing the accounting criteria and for answering participants’ questions regarding, among others, researchers’ remuneration.

So as to identify institutional practices and to help harmonize internal regulations with the rules of the Horizon 2020, the NRDI Office experts carried on several rounds of bilateral consultations with concerned partners from the academic institutions and research organizations (Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Research Centre for Natural Sciences of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Széchenyi University, University of Miskolc). Institutions attending the consultations were encouraged by professionals of the NRDI Office to develop internal policies using an objective set of criteria to create the opportunity for linking wage increase not only to project participation but also to researchers’ professional performance in general. Regardless of the H2020 as a whole, it would be reasonable to consider a system of performance-linked salary levels within the tutors/researchers of the same career stage, since the existing legal environment in Hungary also gives room for such changes.

Upon the initiative of the Corvinus University of Budapest and the University of Miskolc, a chancellor level discussion was held, with the active participation of associates from the NRDI Office and numerous academic institutions, in the topic of institutional policies aligned with the legal framework of the H2020 programme on 15 April, 2016. The meeting provided an excellent opportunity for a review of and exchanging opinions on internal policies already in place or in the pipeline, and also for the identification of regulation elements that are inevitable for meeting the criteria of H2020 audits.

By assessing institutional policies and acting as an intermediary towards the Commission, the NRDI Office continues to coordinate the process that may bring more favourable accounting conditions for Hungarian applicants. The NRDI Office is also keeping track of similar efforts by other countries and frequently updates Hungarian stakeholders about them.

Updated: 14 December 2017
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